Due to its porous nature, leather can soak in strong smells from body sweat, perfume, smoking, food, etc or inherently from the leather tanning process. In my personal opinion, if your leather bag does have an odor, leave it alone. It will dry/air out sooner or later. The bag is not an accessory, which means, you do not attach it to your body; you put it down on the ground or leave it in the car. If you do want to get rid of the odor quickly, put the bag outside. Sun and wind will take the odor away very quickly. Below are some tips coming from other people’s experience, for your reference only.
Removing Odors
If your once loved vintage item has developed an offensive odor such as cigarette smoke, you have a significant task before you . . but it can be done!
Begin by cleaning the leather item. Use Lexol or some other reputable leather cleaner. If this fails to remedy the problem, try the following techniques:
Febreeze
If the leather item has a lining, Febreeze is a great first response. It will undoubtedly take the foul odor out of any fabric. Although not recommended by the manufacturer, we have been successful using it as a cleaner.
Test an inconspicuous area before applying the Febreeze to ensure that you do not damage the leather. If the test shows no change to the leather, saturate the item inside and out with Febreeze and allow it to dry flat.
Baking Soda
Baking soda can be used to remove odors from leather, all of which are very gentle. However, it is always best to perform a localized test first.
- Dry Baking Soda
- Put your item in a paper bag or pillow case with an open box of baking soda for at least 24 hours. You may also sprinkle baking soda into the pockets and interior of the item, or fill a sock with baking soda and leave it inside.
- Baking Soda Solution
Mix one teaspoon or baking soda with one liter of warm water and saturate the leather item (you may also increase the mixture and soak the item). Rinse item and dry flat
Vinegar (not recommended for new item)
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- Dilute the vinegar in equal parts of warm water and let item soak. Rinse and repeat. Allow to dry.
- Sponge the item with straight vinegar and rinse. You may need to be repeat the process several times.
Always use white vinegar as other vinegars may stain
*************************************************By Ashley Kane, About.com Guide
http://vintageclothing.about.com/od/leathercare/a/stains_odors_2.htm
